Alloy



- Patented Feb. 9, 1926.

v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JEAN H. L. DE BATS, OF EAST ORANGE, JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO DE BATS METALS COMPANY, OF IBLOOMFIELD, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

ALLOY.

No Drawing".

To all whom it may concern:

Be. it known that I, JEAN H. L. De BATS, a subject of the Queen of Holland, having declared my intention of becoming an American citizen, residing in East Orange, in the State of New Jersey, have invented certain new. and useful Improvements in Alloys, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to alloys designed primarily for the formation of cutting tools and particularly of tools for cutting hard metals, as in lathes, planers, and other machine tools. An alloy designed for such pur-.

poses must possess mechanical strength sufficient to resist the reaction of the feed and the pressure of the chip, a sufficient degree of hardness to resist wear under the conditions imposed by high duty, and the ability to retain the qualities of strength and hardncss notwithstanding the high temperature developed at the cutting edge under high duty. The degree in which these qualities are possessed is to some extend at least a measure of the speed which can be attained in the use of a cutting tool and of the endurance of the cutting edgebetween sharpenings. The increase of the desirable qualities of alloys designed for such purposes has therefore been constantly in VlQW among metallurgists and heretofore a ternary alloy of cobalt, chromium and tungsten has "been found to possess such desirable qualities in a high degree, the cobalt forming what may be called the base of the alloy, or, as it may be called, a carrier for the other compo- V nents, although the cobalt may be in relatively small proportion, and the chromium and tungsten, or perhaps the carbides thereof, in alloy with the cobalt, givin the characteristic of hardness. In the development of the present invention it has been found that a ternary alloy of nickel, chromium and tungsten possesses the desirable quality of mechanical strength to a higher degree than the alloy of cobalt, chromium and tungsten and to a higher degreethan might have been i expected from the results yielded by a binary alloyof nickel and chromium, although the usefulness of nickel in known alloys in producing hardness and toughness has been Application filed January 24, 1924. Serial No. 688,303.

' known. Whether difficulties hitherto exwhich such an alloy can be produced and in i still another co-pending application there is described a method by which such an alloy can be produced and in still another copending application is described a method of heat treatment by which the desirable qualities of such an alloy can be enhanced.

In the development of the present invention it has been found that the percentages of nickel, chromium and tungsten employed are of importance in producing the particular results desired. By way of example, two alloys designed for special purposes may be described.

()ne of these alloys, designated as number 30 has an initial composition of of tungsten, 40% of chronium and 20% of nickel, it being understood that by initial composition it is intended to referto the percent-ages of the several components with which the formation of the alloy is started, although, in the finished alloy, the percentages may differ more or less from Various causes. It has been found that such an alloy, when properly alloyed and heat treated, exhibits a hardness running from 90 to 100 on the scleroscope scale and a mechanical strength or toughness of about twice that of the specimens of the cobalt, chromium and tungsten alloy subjected to thesame tests. It is found in practice that this alloy number 30 is not well adapted for intermittent cuts or for machining extremely tough steel, such as heat treated chrome nickel steel, its mechanical strength, although greater than that of any alloy which approaches it in hardness, being insufficient for such duty.

The other alloy referred to and designated as number 9 has air-initial composition of which cannot be cut commercially by other known alloys and stands up under interness at cutting speeds two or three times the speed at which ordinary high speed steel will stand up. Because of its strength it can be used as a substitute for high speed steel in the majority of cases where such steel is used. It is not necessary to exercise caution in sharpening it to a'blunt edge, since the mechanical strength issuch that the edge can be brought to an angle considerably more acute than that which isordinarily deemed possible, a lip angle of approximately-69%, for cutting cast iron, having been found successful.

Although it has been found thus far that chromium and tun sten in ternary alloy with nickel give hig ly satisfactory results,

1t is to be understood that other metals of the chromium group might be substituted for chromium and tungsten, in a ternary alloy.

Furthermore it will be understood that for the attainment of specific purposes it may be desirable under to add certain quantities of other metals.

It will also be understood that other substances than those named may be used in making the alloy, to serve as purifiers, scave engers or fluxes.

Reference has been made above to the I meaning of the expression initial composition and it will be understoodthat whatever may be the initial composition, the

- final composition of the finished alloy may differ considerably from the initial composition, by reason of variations in the meth- 0d of forming the alloy or for other reasons. Thus more or less of the tungsten may be oxidized and carried off in the slag, together with the impurities in the commercial raw materials employed. Again, more or less of the nickel or chromium may be volatilized. The. exercise of care in ract-icing the method of making the alloy, how-- ever, will enable substantially uniform results to be secured and it will be understood that variations within reasonable limits are not of themselves characteristics of the finished tools beyond a commercial point. A statement of the ex- Y desirabilit act final chemical analysis therefore cannot be offered as a determination' of the characteristics of an; alloy which embodies the invention. Another reasonfor the unof de ending upon a chemical analysis 0 the finished alloy lies in the fact that variations in the chemical composition of different parts of the tool may be caused SOIIIG circumstances sufiicient to change the by the heat treatment so that chemical analysis of one part of a tool may differ from that of another part of the same tool.

Reference has been made above to the possibility of the hardness of the cobalt alloy being due in part to the presence of carbon in the form of carbides and it will be understood that the alloy which is the subject of the present application may also advantageously include a small percentage of carbon, whether added purposely or resulting from the working of the alloy in a graphite crucible.

It has been assumed, in planation of the nature of the invention, that the components used in making the alloy. are used in their ordinary commercial the foregoing exstate as to their purity, but it will be'understood that they may be used as found in other combinations as, for example, Monel metal, which has a large content of nickel, might be used, in a suitable proportion, in place of the ordinary commercial nickel.

Reference has been made herein to the special suitability of the alloy for tools which are to be subjected to high duty in cutting of hard metals, but it will be understood that the alloy is well adapted for other uses which require either sharpness or a non-corrosive quality such as that possessed by the alloy described.

I claim as my invention:

1. An allow of nickel in the roportion of not more than 30 and not less than 15 per cent of the whole and two metals of the chromium groups each present in a proportion of not less than 15 per cent of the Whole and together forming not over 85 and not less than 70 per cent ofthe whole.

2. An alloy of nickel in the proportion of not more than 30 and not less than 15 per cent of the whole and chromium and another metal of the chromium group each present in a proportion of not less than 15 per cent of the whole and together forming not less than 7 0 and not over 85 per cent of the whole.

3. An alloy of nickel in the proportion of not more than 30 and not less than 15 per cent of the whole and chromium and tung- 1 sten each present in a proportion of not less than 15 per cent of the Whole and together forming not less than 7 O and not over 85-per cent of the whole.

4. An alloy of nickel in the proportion of .not more than 30 and not less than 15 per cent of the whole chromium in a proportlon of not less than 4.0 per cent and not over 60 per cent of the whole, and tungsten in a proportion of not less than 15 and not over 40 cent of the Whole and chromium and tung sten'in equal proportions and together forming not less than 70 and not over 85 per cent of the whole.

6. An alloy of nickel in the proportion of not more than 30 and not less than 15 per cent of the Whole two metals of the chromium group each present in a proportion of p not less than 15 per cent of the whole and together forming not over 85 per cent and 10 not less than 70 per cent of the Whole and a relatively small percentage of carbon.

This specification signed this 19th day of January, A. D. 1924.

JEAN H. L. DE BATS. 

